


Anima

by Nortia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25054153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nortia/pseuds/Nortia
Summary: Soulmate AUAn anima, the author of the book explained, was someone you had complete affinity with. All magical people had one, a person who would completely get you, fulfil you in a way no other person ever could. They could be family or a close friend, but more often than not people who shared such an intimate connection ended up falling in love. When their magic reached maturity, this connection manifested physically and witches and wizards got a mark in their body to identify their anima.Someone whose soul was completely in tune with yours. The concept far surpassed Hermione’s expectations. To think that there was someone out there who would truly understand her -who would love her as she was. It was an astonishing thought.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 20
Kudos: 50





	Anima

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first story in over a decade. And also my first ever story in english. Hope you like it, I am a little nervous about starting to write again but there it goes. Any feedback will be welcomed :)

While growing up, Hermione had always felt alone.

She had always been too bossy, too demanding, too intelligent. The other kids at school had never understood her or even tolerated her, while the teachers and her parents were thrilled with her ability to memorize almost anything in no time. But Hermione had never found acceptance between her peers, so she sought adults’ praises more and more as the only positive interactions that she could get.

By the time she was ten, she had already accepted she was to be alone. No matter how much effort she put into it, her classmates saw her as a know it all who wanted to show off. And Hermione was unwilling to act stupid, not only because she loved to learn but also because the praise she got from her teachers and parents was the only positive interaction she had to look forward to. So she found her happiness in books, her loyal companions, and she had learnt to live with that.

That was until her eleventh birthday came, and a strange woman with a letter for her had come to her doorstep and changed what she thought to be true.

She was a witch. Of course she felt she didn’t fit in, because she really wasn’t between those who would be able to understand her. Somewhere out there, there was a school called Hogwarts with witches and wizards like her full of people who would understand her and be like her.

The woman who had delivered the news, Professor Minerva McGonagall, had informed her and her parents of the most important things about the magical world after proving that she was, in fact, being quite serious about the existence of a magical world -needless to say, after watching their cups of tea and spoons dance there weren’t any more doubts.  
She had told her about their society and about the school, and she had recommended her a number of books that she could read to prepare herself before she entered the magical world. Hermione wouldn’t get a letter with the supplies she needed until next summer because the teachers could still change books or some other items, and she had never hated more being an autumn child.

And Professor McGonagall had also mentioned the animas.

She had told her that it wasn’t something that she could go around asking since it was considered something discussed with close friends, but that it was something she needed to be aware of, so she had recommended Hermione a few books that she could read on the subject. Hermione, whose curiosity had already been peaked by the teacher’s tight lipped attitude and the latin name, had resolved to make it one of the first things to look into. With directions as to how they would be able to get to Diagon Alley, the professor left, and a few days later the Granger family visited the magical street to get a taste of the new world the little girl would be entering. Of course, a lot of books were bought as well.

Since that meeting, Hermione had been reading up on the magical world as much as she could. It was fascinating to see how a whole society had been able to hide from the rest of the world. And to think that witches and wizards had a secret neighbourhood right in the heart of London as well as an entire Ministry of Magic. And a whole school to learn magic that she would be able to attend in only a few months. So fascinated had she been learning about the society she would be entering that she hadn’t remembered about the curious latin word until Christmas, when she went back to Diagon Alley to get more books as presents from her parents and had found the book Professor McGonagall had recommended. Needless to say, Hermione had bought it immediately, as she had never been one to leave a question unanswered.

That night, Hermione took the book to her bed and held it in her hands. Anima, which meant soul in latin. Intrigued, Hermione started to read the book. And she couldn’t stop until she finished it.

An anima, the author of the book explained, was someone you had complete affinity with. All magical people had one, a person who would completely get you, fulfil you in a way no other person ever could. They could be family or a close friend, but more often than not people who shared such an intimate connection ended up falling in love. When their magic reached maturity, this connection manifested physically and witches and wizards got a mark in their body to identify their anima that could be anything, from words (the most common), to pictures, to dates anything really that could identify your anima. There was no way to predict where the mark would appear and ways to hide them were rare, only lasted a few hours and were difficult enough that people didn’t bother hiding them with magic because of the effort that it would take to do so. Most theories agreed that the individual’s own magic didn’t like to have the marks hidden because it reduced the chances of finding their anima, and magic wanted to find them or the marks wouldn’t appear physically.

So it was like a soulmate. Someone whose soul was completely in tune with yours. The concept far surpassed Hermione’s expectations. To think that there was someone out there who would truly understand her -who would love her as she was. It was an astonishing thought.

The next few months Hermione tried to research more into it, but there wasn’t much more written about animas. From what Hermione could gather, animas were something deeply private (which explained McGonagall’s advice about being discrete, for she could have offended someone with a visible mark by asking them about it) and the case to case similarities weren’t that many. A mark manifested according to the individual’s magic, and since each person’s magic was different you could never predict the place in which it would appear or what shape it would take, or even when it would appear. The books were clear in that women’s magic matured earlier than men’s, just like their bodies, so unless her anima was older than her it was likely that she would be the first one to get her mark. By seventeen, the age of majority in the magical world since it was the age at which people’s magic had matured, almost everyone had their marks, with few exceptions that were attributed to development problems or illnesses. Since anima marks were so diverse, there was little she could do but wait until one day she got hers.

Finally, the 1st of September came and she got into the Hogwarts Express, where she met Neville Longbottom, a sweet yet forgetful boy, Ron Weasley, who she preferred to not think about, and Harry Potter. It was fascinating to meet him after reading so much about him, a live piece of history. There was also something about him she couldn’t quite put her finger on, something about how green her eyes were and his disposition, which she immediately felt drawn to. She hoped they would be in the same house at Hogwarts.

Actually arriving at Hogwarts was a splash of cold water. Her classmates still didn't like her. She was still too bossy and raised her hand too much. She was still the know it all.

Having her hopes of friendships and kinship obliterated in such a way was heart breaking. To realize that it wasn't about the kids being muggles -that it was about her all along. That she was simply unlikeable no matter what world she was in. She thought again about her anima, and her mark couldn't get there soon enough. She decided to simply focus on her books, her loyal companions.

And then Halloween happened, and Harry Potter and Ron Weasley battled a troll to save her (after putting her on that situation, but she was willing to overlook that) and the sense of belonging that their friendship brought her was enough to make her stop thinking about animas. Ron and Hermione had buried the hatchet and become friends, although they bickered quite a bit and she was more than a little exasperated at his laziness and table manners, but she had never had friends and tolerating that seemed like a small trade off for having them.

Harry was another story. Not that he didn’t have faults –he was easily led to laziness by Ron and stubborn when an idea got into his head-, but he understood her in a fundamental level. It took no time for their friendship to solidify and become a pillar of Hermione’s life. They complemented each other perfectly, Hermione pushing Harry to study and think things through and Harry forcing her to relax when she got too anxious about their studies. In only a few months, they could understand each other with a few looks and no need to exchange words. This was what Hermione had always imagined that friendship would be like and she wasn’t disappointed at all about the real deal.

For the first three years of her schooling Hermione didn’t really think about her mark anymore. Sometimes she would see a new couple in the Great Hall or the Common Room that the rumour mill confirmed as new found animas, and Lavender and Parvati loved to talk about when their mark would appear or what would it be or who would it be or basically whatever could be discussed about anima marks. But apart from this situations Hermione didn’t really think about it that much, for with the coming of the two boys into her life, getting her mark and finding her anima were things that took a back seat in her mind. She wasn’t alone anymore and had found friendship, with a connection so strong in Harry’s case that she couldn’t imagine how her anima would be able to connect with her any deeper.

Instead Hermione had other things to think about, things to research like three headed dogs and Nicholas Flamel and how or why professor Snape would want to jinx Harry's broom. Then by the end of first year she had almost lost Harry and the feeling of hopelessness that had overcome her had almost swallowed her whole. Yes, she thought, there were more important things than books and cleverness, and she would never let Harry get hurt in the same way again.

It took less than a year for that promise to get broken, as second year at Hogwarts was no better than the first, as a crazy house elf seemed intent on killing Harry and the Chamber of Secrets was opened and an ancient Slytherin monster was loose at the school and muggleborns were petrified and Harry was hearing voices and she was just sure, so sure that there was a connection there… And then she found it. Harry was a parselmouth. Harry was the only one that could talk to snakes and Harry was the only one that could hear the voices before the attacks happened. She also had to take into account the walls, what was there in the walls, why did the voices come from them? How could the monster be moving inside them? She had to go to the library now, while the Quidditch match happened and nobody, specially the heir, would be able to check what she was looking for, she only had to get to the library and search for snake-like animals that could petrify in some way, maybe not directly but-

And then, just when she had finally figured it out, a sound came from the stacks next to her and she just knew, deep in her bones, that it was the basilisk, and she barely had the time to rip the page from the book she had found and get a mirror from her bag and look into it before watching a pair of big, yellow eyes and feeling her world go black.

When she woke up two months later, the Chamber of Secrets had been discovered, the basilisk was gone and the heir had been revealed and taken care of –who had been Ginny Weasley. She didn’t know the littlest Weasley enough to have guessed, but her brothers should all be ashamed at not noticing anything. And she had been possessed by Voldemort, the real heir and last known parselmouth to ever attend Hogwarts, how had she never figured that out? And, most importantly, Harry had risked his life, again, and this time she had been unable to even been there for him. She knew from an intellectual point of view that there was nothing she could have done to change that, but it still left a huge feeling of helplessness inside of her. As soon as she saw Harry, she couldn’t help the feeling that came over her to have him close to her, to hold him and make sure that he was alright, and so she rushed to him and hugged him with all her might. Harry tensed for a moment, but quickly melted into her hug and hugged her back, and she could honestly say that it had been the most peaceful she could remember being in her life.

Holidays with her parents had been amazing after the stressful year she had had at Hogwarts, although it had been difficult to evade the questions regarding her silence over the last two months of school without outright lying to her parents. But in the end she couldn’t risk them realizing just how many close calls she had had in two years of schooling and pulling her out of school. She had finally made friends and while she liked Ron and would be sad if she never saw him again, the prospect of never again seeing Harry made her feel physically sick. And although the travelling with her parents had been amazing –she loved France- the true highlight had been finding Crookshanks, her new cat, in Diagon Alley. She fell in love with him as soon as she saw him, even if he wasn’t conventionally pretty as Ron had pointed out repeatedly.

Third year came, and with it all the electives that she had chosen. She couldn’t imagine not learning something, but it also wasn’t possible for her to be at all classes while some were held at the same time, and when she had approached professor McGonagall with this problem she had told her she would take care of it. And take care of it she did by going to the Ministry of Magic and asking for a special permission for her so she could use a time turner to take all her subjects. Hermione was over the moon when the professor told her, she, Hermione Granger, was going to be the first student trusted with a time turner since they had been fully developed less than two decades ago. She was going to make the most of it.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Hogwarts if there wasn’t at least one life threatening situation looming over their heads. Sirius Black, the first prisoner of Azkaban to ever escape the prison –and from what she had gathered that feat was no joke- was out for blood and, of course, trying to kill Harry. That is, if the dementors that the Ministry had sent to “protect” the school didn’t beat him to it. At least they finally had a competent DADA teacher that actually could help Harry with that problem, and his only problem as Hermione quickly guessed was that it would be impossible for him to help Harry around the full moon. But after having two DADA professors who had both tried to harm Harry, it was an excellent trade off.

Keeping up with all the new classes was stressful, and she couldn’t say she enjoyed all of them. Divination seemed to be a load of rubbish, and worst of all Lavender and Parvati loved the subject so of course she had to listen to them when they were all in their dorm talk about how cards could be used to read characteristics about a person’s anima and how in later years when they all got their marks they would be able to study ways to identify them. And Muggle Studies was so outdated as a subject that she could have taught the class better without books. The teacher wasn’t used to having muggleborns in her class and didn’t take kindly to the few times that Hermione corrected her about electricity having more uses than giving light, so she hadn’t tried to correct her in the last few classes. And although she loved Hagrid, Care of Magical Creatures would be more useful if he focused in more common creatures and not whatever weird creature that caught his fancy. At least Arithmancy and Ancient Runes were everything she had hoped for and even more.

As the autumn progressed things got worse. Sirius Black managed to get into Hogwarts, Buckbeak, Hagrid’s hippogriff, was in risk of being put down after attacking Malfoy and dementors almost killed Harry during a Quidditch game, which almost gave her a heart attack. She should be getting used to Harry being in life threatening situations, but she could honestly say that the feeling of helplessness never got better. So to the stress that her studies and hiding the time turner had caused her now she had to add looking for a legal resource to save Buckbeak and worrying about Harry not getting himself killed. She didn’t even add to this list making sure that Crookshanks didn’t eat Scabbers because honestly, he was just a cat trying to hunt and if Ron didn’t want anything to happen to his pet he should be taking better care of it.

Right before Christmas Harry decided to risk his life just to go to Hogsmeade because of course he would when he listened in a conversation he shouldn’t have because of course he would when he discovered that Sirius Black was his godfather and the reason his parents were death, so now she had to add to her list of worries making sure that Harry wasn’t the one going to look for the crazy mass murderer who had escaped the most secure prison in Britain.

And then, Christmas happened.

Harry had received a Firebolt. The latest and most expensive broom in the market, just after his Nimbus 2000 had been destroyed and he was in need of a broom. And no one knew who had sent it. If that didn’t scream a trap, she didn’t know what did. She had tried to tell Harry, but Ron had called her crazy and Harry had wanted the broom too much to worry about small details like who would spend a small fortune on buying him a broom or why would they do that. It also didn’t help matter that right when she was trying to convince them to do the sensible thing and report the broom, Crookshanks tried to get to Scabbers again. So after pleading with both of them for the entire day, she decided that Harry’s safety was more valuable than him being angry at her for a few days. She remembered all those times he had almost died and she couldn’t bear the thought of it happening again because she didn’t do anything.

It didn’t really occur to Hermione that Harry and Ron would be angry at her more than just a few days, so when their row went from lasting days to weeks to months, Hermione was heartbroken. It was the start of first year all over again, except now she had something to miss. And God, did she miss Harry. Ron too to an extent, but they had been at each other’s throats since the start of the year so the only change between them was that now his animosity wasn’t verbal. But Harry… She missed Harry like crazy. She missed their talks, the shared smiles and looks, the belonging. She didn’t know when she had started to depend so much on him but his absence wore her out more than the classes and the lack of sleep and the trial’s research ever could.

It took months for them to make up, and the relief she felt over it was strong enough that she dropped all resentment she could have felt towards the boys over the last months. After all, she didn’t think she could really resent Harry even if she tried. And when she punched Malfoy after he had been an ass, which admittedly wasn’t a novelty but her reaction certainly was, the boys cheered and the dynamic between the trio returned to what had been before.

And then Scabbers appeared and turns out, Sirius Black had been after Ron’s pet rat all along, who wasn’t a rat to begin with but the true traitor of the Potters. And this time, when it was time for Harry to be the hero and save the day, it was Hermione with her time turner who was alongside him helping him to save his godfather and Buckbeak. Even through the fear of running away from a fully transformed werewolf and facing dozens of dementors, it felt right for Hermione to be the one by Harry’s side from beginning to the end.

Both Sirius and Buckbeak survived, and the only downside was that Harry wouldn’t be able to go to live with Sirius for the time being. Still, having an adult figure in his life that worried about him and sent him letters did Harry a lot of good, and just for that Hermione was grateful to Sirius Black.

That summer the Quidditch World Cup came and what she thought would be a dull event that she would suffer through because of her boys became a clear message from the people who had supported Voldemort: We are still here.

Fourth year started off with the announcement that the Triwizard Tournament would be happening with students from both Durmstrang and Beauxbatons participating, which could be an excellent academic opportunity to know about the life of magical people outside of Britain and the subjects their schools had to offer and their customs and honestly, the possibilities were endless and she was just excited about learning more about it. And on top of that, there would be no Quidditch this year. Sure Harry would be sad, but she wouldn’t have to worry about him getting hurt in a match for a whole year. His disappointment was a small price to pay for all the peace of mind that she would have that year.

Of course, it only took Halloween to arrive for the year to go downhill.

Somehow, Harry had gotten himself entered into the tournament. Of course she knew it wasn’t him, Harry didn’t like the spotlight and he couldn’t lie to her to save his life, that face of shock she had seen when his name had been called had been real. But the whole school, and Ron of all people didn’t agree with her judgement and so it was her and Harry against the school, trying to keep him alive. At the very start she tried to make peace between the two boys, but soon keeping Harry alive took priority and when she had been unable to find anything in any book that could keep him out of the tournament, they started to look for any spells that could be useful in a life or death situation while trying to ignore Viktor Krum’s fans –more like stalkers, thought Hermione darkly. It was difficult since the bulgarian was usually seated close to them, and made Hermione more resentful of him than she should be taking into account that he himself was quiet and orderly with his books.

Luckily for them, Hagrid and Moody of all people gave them the clue they needed to go forward: Dragons. Harry had to bypass a dragon, and to do that his best chance was doing the one thing he was extraordinary at, flying. And so they spent days upon days practicing the summoning charm until Harry could perform it in his sleep. When the first task came Hermione wished she could have waited with Harry to keep him company, but she had to content herself with a hug and watching from the stands. Still, everything worked out exactly as they had planned it, and the relief she felt at Harry surviving was strong enough for her to forgive Ron without giving him as many complaints as he had given her just a few months prior.

Of course Harry wouldn’t be Harry is he didn’t procrastinate, and so it fell to her to look for clues as to what the egg could mean and what the sound it made could be. Surprisingly, the bulgarian didn’t drop his appearances inside the library after the first task, and after a few conversations regarding a book he was looking for or a book she was reading she warmed up to him.

For that reason, when the bulgarian asked her to accompany him to the Yule Ball she accepted. He was handsome and more intelligent than anybody gave him credit for –which she could have guessed even if she hadn’t spoken to him; after all, it wasn’t as if the Goblet of Fire would have chosen him for his Quidditch skills- and most importantly, he was the only one who had taken an interest in her. Ron was set on taking a “beauty” to the Ball, and Harry had been mooning after Cho Chang since the Ball had been announced, a fact that most certainly did not matter to Hermione in any way, shape or form. No, the only reason she even cared was that it would have been nice to spend the evening with her best friend.

The previous weeks to the Ball her relationship with Viktor grew, as he was pleasantly surprised to discover that she did not care about Quidditch but about what he could tell her about life in magical Bulgaria and about his school and she was more and more fascinated about the input Viktor had of the foreign magical world. As an international Quidditch player, he had been in many countries playing, and had something interesting to say about most of them. Three days before the Ball, Ron remembered that she was a girl –the nerve of him- and even though she could have gone to the Ball with him or Harry if she had waited, she wasn’t sorry about accepting Viktor’s invitation. That’s when she decided that she would show them that yes, she most certainly was a girl.

The day of the Ball, Lavender and Parvati, who were on high spirits after getting dates with Seamus –whom Lavender had called dreamy before- and Harry –whom Parvati didn’t like but was a champion, and that in itself was an honour- helped her with her hair and make up, and for the first time in her life she was thankful to Malfoy of all people for giving her an excuse to fix her teeth. The dress she had gotten with her mother on the holidays fit her like a glove, a beautiful blue gown that fell to the floor. When she looked at the mirror she knew she looked as good as she was ever going to look.

The Yule Ball was like a dream come true. Viktor told her she looked very beautiful and everybody’s looks said so as well, although she couldn’t deny to herself that Harry’s shocked look had been the most satisfying reaction of the night. The conversation was delightful and Viktor was an excellent dancer, which made it very easy for her to follow his lead even with only a month of instruction. The night could have gone wrong when Ron got angry at her of fraternizing with the enemy of all things, and Harry being silent and moody as if he was angry at Hermione as well, but everything came back to rights when Viktor found her and took her on a walk through the gardens, which were the perfect spot for her to have her first kiss in.

Their relationship thrived during the holidays, when people weren’t in places like the library or near the lake and they didn’t have to make as much of an effort to find a spot to get better acquainted with each other’s lips. But soon the holidays were over, Harry discovered what the second task was about and Viktor had to train for the task himself, making their time together more limited.

Then the second task happened, in which Harry had to save Ron and she was saved by Viktor. While she was trying to regain her wits and he was trying to dry her, she saw something written in the inside of her bicep in cyrillic, and knew instantly that it was his anima mark. This made her question, did Viktor believe that she was his anima? Was she? She honestly didn’t know.

The next few weeks, she analysed it. Every kiss they shared, she couldn’t help but think, was this what kissing her anima was like? Every time they spoke, was this the connection they were supposed to have? She didn’t have anything to compare it to, and she was afraid to ask Viktor. What if she was and he was offended that she had doubted it?

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Viktor. She really did. He was handsome, intelligent and a gentleman. Snogging him was nice, too. She would have to be crazy to not like him. But she couldn’t help but feel that just liking him wasn’t what she was supposed to feel. All the descriptions she had read about animas talked about a deep connection to your soul. Someone who would understand her and get her just like she would get him. It was a relief when may came and both of them had to focus more on training for the tournament and exams in her case.

The third task was a mess. Again, she could do nothing but watch as Harry went alone into danger, and even though she knew that the two of them had practiced as many spells as they could fit in the last few weeks, that Harry was a lot more prepared for this task than he had been for the last two, she still worried. And when he came from the labyrinth with the Cup in one hand and Cedric’s body in the other, crying and screaming that Voldemort had come back, she knew that her life as she had known it was over.

The only relief that came after fourth year was having a long overdue talk with Viktor. She knew it was extremely impolite to question people about their animas, but she had to know. Viktor understood and while he didn’t tell her what his mark meant, he explained to her that it was clear from it that he wouldn’t meet his anima for a few years still and that it wasn’t expected of him nor from his anima that they would wait for each other until they met. Knowing this, Hermione felt like a weight was off her shoulders and she and Viktor parted ways as friends, promising to write.

When she got into the train taking them back to London, the atmosphere was somber. Voldemort was back for real this time, and the trio knew without having to voice it that they would be fighting him on the front lines. Harry looked especially bad, which wasn’t surprising since that had been his expression since Cedric died. Looking at her two friends, Hermione knew without a doubt that from then on their lives would never be the same.

Just two weeks into her summer holidays, the world decided to throw at her another life changing event. Hermione woke up early as she always did in what appeared to be a normal day, went to the bathroom to take a shower and brush her teeth and when she took out her clothes, she saw it.

Right there on her left hip, there was a mark she had never seen before. Her anima mark.

It was a drawing. No phrase, no date, just a small and simple drawing of around three inches that not even she would have problems replicating even taking into account her limited artistic skills. She couldn’t recognize the symbol, and she thought that it was a good thing that Ron had told her there was a library in the place she would be joining him in a few days, because she would have to research it.

It was a triangle with a straight line going through the middle of it, and a circle inside the triangle. She had never seen something like it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. This was a bit of an introduction, the real action starts next chapter, but I felt necessary to have some background to this world. For those of you in the Harmony & Co. group, remember someone asking whether to divide a one shot or not into more chapters? Well lol this has become a full story.
> 
> I would like to say that I will update soon, but that would be a lie. Last week my mom went to the doctor because she hadn't been feeling that great, and turns out she has cancer. It's looking good in terms of recovery, but she will still need surgery and a few weeks in bed and I will be taking care of her, so if she sleeps a lot and I can just write next to her then I will update sooner, but if not know that I am sorry and that there is a reason for the delay, hope you can understand.


End file.
